Last Daughter of Krypton
by Tavian6
Summary: Kara Zor-El is the last survivor of her people. When she finds herself on a new world, she must lean to deal with strange new powers.
1. Chapter 1

In the inky blackness space, a jagged remnant of a dead world drifted away from the remains of a collapsed star. This sliver of a planet had one smooth side, from which protruded a shimmering dome, like half a soap bubble sitting on a rock. Within this dome stood a city of spires that once glinted under the light of a red sun, but which were now shrouded in eternal night. The city was Argo, last city of Krypton.

Zor-El stood upon the balcony of his home and watched the gentle movement of the stars as the shard of Krypton slowly span through the void. In the days before his planet had died, he had always enjoyed standing in this spot to watch the sunset and enjoy the gentle breeze. There were no sunsets anymore, nor any breeze. Still, he took the time to stand there, it was the only time he got any rest.

There was never much time for rest these days. There was always something that needed doing. Life had become a daily struggle just so survive. The main thing was power. Without power they could not recycle the little water they had left or grow food in the little makeshift farms. Without power the air scrubbers could not make the air breathable. Without power the shimmering dome which enclosed the city fail, leaving the city dead and airless. Without power, they would not survive.

He wrapped his cape around himself for warmth and looked up at the shimmering dome which enclosed the city. It was the only thing keeping them separated from the void. Keeping the shield functional was what most of the city's power went towards.

There were huge generators in the hub of the city which powered the shield dome, but the dome itself had been experimental and the short term generators had been intended to be replaced with something more permanent once testing had been completed. Now they had no choice but to work out how to keep them going.

Looking at the dome his thoughts turned to Kandor. The great city of Kandor. Primary city of Krypton. The lost city.

Of course, he thought grimly, all the cities were lost now, But Kandor had been lost more than a decade before the death of Krypton.

He remembered the day, a decade ago a, when a great shadow had fallen over their world as a machine entity appeared above Krypton.

With all their technology and all their professing to be the greatest civilisation they were unable to stop the capital city being taken. Just like that, gone, leaving nothing but a crater, as if a giant hand had simply reached down from the skies and scooped it up.

The attack had left a jagged scar on the psyche of the people of Krypton. Fearful questions and angry demands had been flung at the planet's High Council who had responded with reassurances of stronger defences and more security. Those eyes which looked out now only scanned the skies in fear at the entity's return and did not heed the warnings of those who spoke of the sun's instability. Those who looked inwards only looked to strengthening their defences and ignored those who spoke of other dangers to the planet. Fear of the entity had blinded them to all other dangers, for the entity was real and immediate. Other dangers seemed distant and unimaginable.

Zor-El had been one of these affected by this state of fear. He had thrown himself into his work analysing the remains of the few of the Entity's probes, which the planets defence force had managed to destroy. It was hoped that this analysis would reveal some weakness of the Entity, which would allow them to defend against it, if it ever returned. He had sworn that no Kryptonian would ever again be taken again.

Analysing the entity's technology had yielded technological secrets, unknown even to the great minds of Krypton. And so the Entity's shielding technology had been discovered. Many years had been spent reverse engineering this technology, until finally they had built a protective energy shield large enough to cover the entire city. The shield itself had been a prototype, a proof of concept, a temporary device, build to be tested and the replaced with a better model designed to last.

When the tremors that heralded Krypton's destruction had begun, some initially thought that the entity had returned and in the panic the unfinished shield had been activated. When the planet was ripped apart, the shield had kept the city and the ground it stood on together as they had been flung away into space. They had built the shield to protect themselves, and it had, just not in the way they had imagined.

So now here they were, trying to survive in a dying city, on a shard of a dead world. Their people were gone, there was no-one coming to rescue them, their resources were dwindling and only a thin, untested wall of energy separated them from the hard vacuumed of space. Danger was now a constant, any moment could bring a disaster that could end it all. Even the very rock beneath their feel now put out a dangerous radiation that the population had to be shielded from. Some felt that there was no hope and that it would have been better to perish quickly with their world, rather than endure this slow demise.

The problem was how to make enough power. With the sun gone there was no solar energy, with the planet gone there was no thermal energy. Anything in the city that could create power had been gathered. Household generators, transport craft engines, even old children's science projects, if it could make power it was taken to the hub and plugged into the grid.

But it was not enough. It was never enough.

There were plenty of ideas about how to make power. Fusion, Fission, Harmonic Wave, Zero Point Energy, Gravity Harnessing, Phantom Generators, but the problem was building them. They either required materials they did not have, or would require a huge amount of energy in order to start, which the city could not spare.

So they debated endlessly, on the correct course to take. Whether to build ships to flee the city, or to go and search for resources to bring back or dismantle a few of the city's energy sources in order to build them into a new and better one. There were many ideas, but precious few answers.

Zor-El lowered his gaze from the stars to the spires of the city he called home. This was once a bright and lively city, now it was now cold and dark and quiet. He closed his eyes and imagined pleasant sunset and a warm breeze on his face.

He felt a warm hand on his arm. Opening his eyes, he turned to see his wife Alura, one of the two lights in his life that made existence bearable. She smiled a smile which drove the coldness from his bones and the darkness from his soul.

"It is time." She said softly, taking his arm and leading him back into the house.

They headed towards the entrance. Mar-En had called a meeting in order to put a request to Argo's ruling council and had asked Zor-El to attend. Mar-En wanted to shut down generator five so that he could replace a burned out component and get it back up to running at 100% capacity. Zor-El was on his way to testify that the remaining generators could handle the strain for a short time and that Mar-En was skilled enough to rebuild it.

Zor-El found that he now spent a lot of his time giving speeches to reassure or inspire the citizens of Argo, to give them hope that they could stave off their doom for a little longer.

Privately Zor-El agreed with those saying that their little world was unsustainable and that they should construct ships. The problems that kept cropping up could only be fixed for so long, all it would take would be one disaster to kill them all.

However, he was also acuity aware that there was absolutely no way that they could build a ship large enough to carry and support the entire population of Argo. He could not bring himself to doom the city's residents, even if it meant saving a few. The cost would be too high. So he would stay with his people and hope against hope that some solution could be found.

He looked down at the icon emblazoned in his chest, the symbol of the house of El. Hope... yes. But of course he had not left everything to hope and chance.

He thought, with no small amount of guilt, of the thing he was constructing in his workshop. Constructed using only materials from his home, but which perhaps could have been used elsewhere in the city. In the topmost room, which had once been his observatory, stood a small craft. Makeshift but sturdy. Big enough for one.

Selfish? Yes, of course. Not for himself, but for someone he cared about, but selfish none the less.

As Zor-El and his wife headed towards the entrance, he paused as he passed his daughter's room. She sat in there studying Hal-Ed's treatise on empathy as a cornerstone of civilisation, as she had been earlier when he had passed on his way to the balcony. She was now the youngest member of their race still alive. Every day he thought he should send her away from this dead city, but he could not bear to see her go.

He felt a squeeze on his arm and turned once more to his wife. She gestured towards the door and silently they both left their daughter alone.

As made their way from the darkened building Alura spoke. "We should wait no longer."

She turned to him as they walked through the cold night. "The craft is ready, we must send her away. Before some disaster befalls us."

He nodded. "Yes. Though it pains me to let her go... no, she will survive. We shall see to that." He placed his hand into hers. "We shall tell her when we get back."

Arm in arm they walked on through the darkness.

Alura was right, there could be no further delay, Kara must be sent away.

He would see her safe, his only daughter.

Last of his line.

Last of his people.

Last daughter of Krypton.

...

In the darkness of the void, Argo gave out very little energy.

Almost unnoticeable, but not quite.

Something had taken notice.

It began to move towards the city...


	2. Chapter 2

When Zor-El and Alura returned it was late. Not that you could tell any more. Time had little meaning now that there was no more day and night. People just worked until they were tired and then slept for as long as they could. Zor-El stifled a yawn, it had been a long 'day' and he and his wife were both exhausted. The debate had gone on longer than expected and he had to jump to Mar-En's defence at several points when aspects of his plan had been questioned. But, in the end they had been successful. The council had approved Mar-En's plan and it would go ahead in three days.

As soon as they returned to their residence, they went straight to their daughter's room. An important discussion had to be made with her, the sooner the better. When they got to her room, they found her curled up asleep on her bed, the small reading screen glowing softly as it lay next to her.

"Should we wake her?" Zor-El asked, softly.

Alura lent over the bed and picked up the reading screen. "No." She said, turning the small device off. "Let her sleep. Let her be free in her dreams."

Alura reached up to her neck and unclasped her cloak. She laid it over her daughter's sleeping form and whispered to her "Soon you will not need dreams to be free."

Kara murmured in her sleep. Alura rejoined her husband in the doorway. They looked back for a moment at their daughter, then left her to rest.

Zor-El went straight to their sleeping quarters. Alura could tell how tired he was. He was always tired now. As the inventor of the shield that had saved them, or in some people's opinion, doomed them to a slow death, he felt responsible for all the people living under it. That was why neither of them had ever considered joining their daughter in leaving the city. They had a responsibility and a duty to the people of the city. They would save them or die with them.

Alura entered her study and went over to her desk, placing the small reading screen back where it lived. On her desk lay a small plain box. She opened the lid and withdrew the single item within. She held it up and examined it in the dim light. It was a sweet nut. They had once grown in the gardens of their home, but now that there was no sun the plants had shrivelled and died. This was probably the last Kryptonian sweet nut in existence. Once it was gone they would only live on in the memory banks of the city. And if those failed, the Universe would never know that such a thing had ever existed.

Alura wondered if the Universe would ever know that Krypton had existed or if they would be forgotten as well, a light which sparked briefly, then fizzled out unseen in the darkness.

She considered the sweet nut which lay in the palm of her hand. To eat it would be to remove a unique item from existence, but to not eat it would mean keeping it until it became old and inedible, and what was the point in that?

She ate it and savoured the fleeting taste.

Walking over to her study's window, she gazed down at the city that was her home. Here and there she could see the dull red glow of artificial sun lights. They had been set up in what was once the city's parks, but which now had been turned into makeshift farms. What little food could be grown was rationed out. Luxuries were no longer an option.

She and her husband had opened their last bottle of wine several weeks earlier to commemorate the anniversary of the death of their world. That had been quite a solemn celebration. They had originally been keeping it to open in celebration of their eventual salvation. After a year had passed such hopes of escaping the city had faded.

The city and its people had survived the end of the world, but they were not safe. Every day the city stood on the brink of annihilation. Every day was a struggle for survival. Every day the city had to work to buy enough time to see one more tomorrow.

In the struggle to struggle to survive there was no time to just live. She had not lived for a year, she had merely existed.

She was exhausted.

She looked over what had once been a beautiful city. The shining spires no longer shone on the Sun, there was only night now. The city no longer glittered at night as all unnecessary lights had been turned out to conserve power and the remaining lights had been dimmed, plunging the city into eternal twilight.

She turned away from the window and headed towards her sleeping quarters. She did not want to think about it anymore. Most people did not, which was why everyone had thrown themselves into their work, to keep from thinking about their current existence. By keeping focused on what they could do, they avoided the creeping dread of oblivion.

So they held meetings, debated and made plans. In the last meeting the idea had been raised of sealing the buildings against the vacuum of space, digging tunnels and living underground, which would allow them to turn of the shield. Arguments against had pointed out the difficulty of producing enough element-82 shielding to protect them against the ground's radiation. Arguments for had pointed out that it would much easier with the energy saved from deactivating the shield.

Alura climbed into bed next to her husband. He was already asleep. Personally, she had plans to study the radiation. If she could find a way to protect against, or even neutralise it, they wouldn't need to manufacture thick shielding for the tunnels.

Tomorrow they would wake up and begin again the work of keeping their people safe, but for now there was time enough to rest.

Her mind wandered for a while as she lay in the dark, until finally sleep took her.

Alura slept and dreamed of Krypton

...

It approached Argo, scanning and analysing.

It spread itself wide and pushed on towards the shield dome.


	3. Chapter 3

Kara was pulled out of her dreams by somebody shaking her and calling her name. Kara shook the sleep from her head and pulled back the cloak she found herself under, trying to focus on her surroundings. Her mother was standing over her in the cold, dark room.

"Kara! Wake up, quickly!" said her mother.

"What is it?" asked Kara, pulling the cloak round herself to keep the cold air out.

She looked at her mother and was taken back to see her expression. Something was very wrong.

"You must come with me. Now." Said her mother, almost dragging her out of bed.

"What is wrong?" Asked Kara.

Her mother said nothing but hurried her along, out of the room and towards the observatory.

"Mother! What is happening?" demanded Kara.

"It is going to be alright." Said her mother. "It will be alright.

They hurried into the observatory. Her father was already in there, frantically working on some mystery object under the open roof. He looked terrified as well.

Kara was about to demand answers, but a movement in the sky caught her eye. She looked up and felt an icy hand grip her heart as she saw an old nightmare hanging above her.

It had returned.

The object before her father opened and he turned. "It is ready. Quickly, now."

Her mother grabbed her arm and rushed her over to the open object.

"Get in." Her mother said, quickly. "This will keep you safe."

Kara looked into the opening. The inside had clearly been designed for someone to lie in.

"Wait, what is this?" She asked her parents.

"An escape pod." Said her father. "This will take you somewhere where you will be safe, a place where you can live."

He tried to guide her into the pod but she resisted.

"What about you and mother?" She asked.

"I'm sorry, I could only build one." Said her father, still trying to guide her into the pod.

"It is enough for us to know that you are safe." Said her mother. "Please get in." She pleaded.

The thing in the sky was closer now. Faint sounds of terror echoed round the dark city.

"What about the people?" Demanded Kara. "We are not going to help them? You taught me it was our duty to help others!"

There were now tears of desperation in her father's eyes.

"I can not help them all, I can only help you. Please! There is no time!" Pleaded her father.

"But I cannot leave them! I cannot leave you! Please, do not make me leave you..." Kara begged.

Her mother and father exchanged a glance and both shoved Kara into the pod, her father locking the glass door in place. Kara beat her fists against the inside of the glass.

"No, please, do not make me go!" she pleaded.

"Kara." Said her mother. "You are right. You are meant to help others, and you will. You carry the spirit of us with you. Be a light in dark places."

"We both love you very much." Said her father. "Goodbye."

He activated the pod's launching mechanism. A stasis unit activated, sending Kara into unconsciousness. Her last memory of Argo was of her parents standing before her while a great shadow blotted out the stars.

As the pod rose Alura and Zoe-El watched after it. In the sky was the Entity, like an enormous grey skull, wreathed in tentacles. The little pod fled away from it.

Zor-El and Alura watched the pod until they could see it no more. Once it was out of sight, they held each other and waited for their fate.

...

The Machine Entity noted the pod's flight.

It sent out several probes to retrieve it.

Turning its attention back to the city below, it reached the energy shield that surrounded it.

It passed though the shield as if it hadn't even been there.


	4. Chapter 4

In the sky above Krypton's last city, an immense grey nightmare slowly advanced, the energy shield offering no resistance as it passed through. It hung in the stale air, above the darkened buildings and observed the people below. The people of the stricken city fled in terror, but there was nowhere to flee to. The shield that had kept them safe was now a prison wall. So they hid in their buildings and huddled together, cowering from the monstrosity. They all remembered this thing, and now the nightmare that they had all hoped would never come true was floating above them.

Only one craft fled from the Entity. A small pod, its powerful engines roaring through the air as flew away, towards the energy shield. Smaller craft, multi-limbed probes, were launching from the Entity and set off in hot pursuit of the pod. None would escape.

Reaching the shield, the pod didn't slow, but drove straight on towards it. A special generator in the pod began to generate energy at the same frequency as the shield wall. As the pod reached the energy shield it temporarily created a small shield around itself and passed through the dome like a wet needle through a soap bubble. The small pod was now flying through the cold silent vacuum of space. The pod's computer checked its pre-programmed coordinates, re-orientated itself correctly and began charging its jump engine.

Behind the pod, dozens of the Entity's probes shot through the energy shield, it offering them no more resistance than it had to the entity. They began to converge on the pod. Satisfied that the pod would be captured, the Entity turned its full attention back to the city below. Vast metallic tendrils slammed into the edges of the rocky shard on which the city stood, securing it in place and sending chunks of rock flying in all directions.

The little pod bobbed and weaved, trying to keep away from the probes while it charged its jump engines. The pod also had to contend with the chunks of rock flying away from the city. Avoiding the rocks and the probes, maintaining its precious cargo, charging it's jump drives and plotting a course was taxing the pod's little computer almost to the limit.

But try as it might, it couldn't outrun the probes for long enough.

One of the probes reached the pod and fastened itself on to the back and began pulling back, slowing it so that the other probes could reach it. If they reached it they would slice open the pod, destroy its engines and drag it back to the Entity. Unacceptable.

The pod's computer made a decision to take a calculated risk.

It suddenly jinked to the side, putting itself in the path of one of the flying chunks of rock. The probe hanging on had no time to react before the rock smashed it into the back of the pod. The back of the craft was now a twisted mess of rock and metal.

The pod's computer did a quick damage check.

Containment: Stable

Life support: Stable

Main engines: Offline

Secondary engines: 47% capacity

Jump engine: 72% capacity

The rest of the probes closed in but it was too late. The jump engine released its energy and pushed the little craft through the fabric of space. With a flash the pod was gone. The remaining probes scanned the area. Finding no trace of their target, they turned back.

The Entity noted the disappearance of the pod.

Unfortunate. But, no matter. With the amount of damage sustained by the pod, it would be unable to get far.

And the main prize lay below.

...

The Entity floated away from the shard, upon which the last city of Krypton had once stood.

The city of Argo no longer stood on the shard.

All that was left was a crater.


	5. Chapter 5

In the void between stars, a small craft flashed into existence.

Its computer did a quick self diagnostic. The damage it had sustained had been significant and a full jump had not been possible. It re-orientated itself with the stars to ascertain its location and re-plotted its course while it charged its engine for the next jump.

It would be a difficult journey. As it had to maintain what power it had between the stasis and life support systems and the drive system, it would have to make many short range jumps. But it knew where it was going.

Once the jump system was sufficiently charged it made another jump, and the star it was travelling towards came a little closer.

After hundreds of such jumps the craft found itself within the orbit of the star's satellite planets. According to long range probes that had relayed this information back to Krypton years ago, there should be a planet in this system that matched the pod's needs.

Its scanners confirmed this, showing a rocky world nearer to the star which matched these readings. This planet was in the correct orbital range of temperature, acceptable atmospheric mix, evidence of water. Perfect for sustaining life.

Its scanners also showed some unusual radiation emanating from the local star. The little yellow star was giving out readings vastly different from Krypton's own red giant, however analysis showed that it would probably not be dangerous to Kryptonian physiology, and besides, there was no time to find and travel to a different star system.

With its passenger still safely in stasis, the pod limped on, using what little engine power it could muster. Without its main engine, it took a long time. It kept a close watch on its falling energy levels, the safety of its passenger its primary concern. It had to reroute some of its little remaining engine power to keep stasis and life support functional, but lessening the engine power meant the journey would take longer. It was a very fine balance to ensure its passenger would reach the destination safely.

As it neared the planet, its sensors picked waves of electromagnetic signals, evidence of intelligent life. The pod did not waste energy trying to analyse them, but pushed on towards the little blue/green world.

The pod was now sliding down the gravity well of planet. It transferred all remaining energy from its engines to its retro thrusters to stabilise and slow its descent.

As the pod entered the upper atmosphere, the star's light disappeared behind the planet. The little pod continued to fly through the world's shadow and aimed down towards the centre of a large landmass.

The pod ploughed down into the planet's atmosphere, its nose glowing white hot as superheated air flashed around it. Its thrusters fired wildly, trying to keep itself under control.

Finally, its thrusters and the air resistance had slowed it sufficiently so that it did not glow with heat. It passed through a layer of clouds and emerged into the pouring rain.

With the ground coming up fast, it put everything it could into its retro thrusters. The pod flattened out and ploughed into the soft ground, tearing a huge gash in the soil, before finally skidding to a halt.

It ran a quick diagnostic. Its passenger was safe, but the pod's systems were beginning to fail.

Quickly, it began to end the stasis. As its systems shut down, one by one, it registered heartbeat, breathing and cognitive activity from its passenger. Its passenger was alive and well and coming out of stasis successfully.

Its mission had been completed.

As much as it could, the pod's little computer system felt a sense of achievement.

It shut down for the last time.

...

The pod lay in the dark and rain.

Life stirred within.


	6. Chapter 6

Kara was walking in bright streets with her parents

There were people trapped in a shadow reaching out for help

Her farther reached for them and pulled them into the light

He said you must bring hope to those who despair

The darkness grew but her mother dismissed it with a glance

She said you must be strong for those who are weak

She heard a crash and turned to see the city crumbling behind her

When she turned back her parents were gone and the darkness was growing again

She tried to run but her way was blocked by a glass wall

Her parents stood together on the other side of the glass

They smiled and told her how much they loved her

Kara turned and saw that the darkness had covered everything and was now advancing on her

When she turned back her parents were now statues made of a greenish rock

The statues exploded shattering the glass and sending Kara tumbling into the darkness

She span helplessly through the void and she-

Kara's eyes snapped open. She was surrounded by darkness, in a small enclosed space. She pushed out with her hands and found that the lid in front of her gave way. As she pushed it open, cold air and falling water hit her face. With shaking arms she pulled herself over the side of the tube she was lying in. The side of the tube was now slick with water and her hands slipped out from under her, sending her tumbling down onto the soft wet ground.

As she lay on the cold, wet ground in the darkness, memories began to trickle back. Argo, the Entity, her parents, the craft.

She was not on Argo any more. This was an alien world.

As her eyes began to accustomise themselves to the darkness, she could make out the shadowy shape of the pod next to her. She grabbed the side of the pod and pulled herself up. The pod seemed to be resting at the bottom of a small rise in the ground.

Wind and water whipped around her and pulled the cloak around her shoulders tight against the cold. The thought struck her that this was her mother's cloak and that this was the only thing she had left to remember her by. Her mother was gone, and her father and everyone she had known, taken by the Entity, like the people of Kandor. And she would never see them again. She was lost and alone in the dark and the cold.

The sensation was overwhelming, she felt dizzy. She tried to compose herself and take stock of her situation, but the dizziness got worse. A wave of nausea hit her as she turned and scrambled up the hill, looking for any kind of shelter.

As she pulled herself up the hill, the dizziness and nausea began to subside. She crested the top of the hill and collapsed to her knees, trying to get her breath back. As she shook off the last of the light-headedness she noticed the world was not totally dark. Far in the distance a dim light illuminated the horizon.

She stared at it, it had been so long since she had seen a horizon, having spent so long trapped behind the shield wall in that dark city she had called home. She lifted her face and felt the cold droplets of water hit her face. Rain, she hadn't felt rain in years, or wind. She took a deep breath. The air was icy cold but she found it invigorating, it wasn't like the stale, dead air of Argo, every breath machine recycled a thousand times. This air was fresh and carried with it strange scents.

The rain seemed to be pattering to a halt now and the horizon was much lighter. Kara stood and looked around, examining this new world. The area she was in was, as far as she could see, covered in uncultivated vegetation, with no tracks or signs of civilisation. She might be alone, but at least this wasn't a dead world.

She glanced at the gap in the clouds on the horizon where the light was brightest. Suddenly, a blaze of light broke over the dark line of the horizon as the planet's local star rose into view. Her hand shot up to shield her eyes, but then slowly lowered again. This was a sun. Not like the old red giant that she remembered from Krypton. This sun was smaller and yellow, obviously much younger. A blazing nuclear furnace hung in the sky and she was staring right at it.

She knew the intense brightness of the light should be burning out her retinas, but... no blotchy dark shadows scarred her vision, there was no pain, only warmth which spread into her body, driving away the coldness and exhaustion.

She stared into the light, and it was beautiful.

The last daughter of Krypton watched her first sunrise on Earth.

...

The pod lay in the shadow of the hill, dead and silent.

Something within the pod stirred.


	7. Chapter 7

Kara didn't know how long she had been standing there, but she suddenly shook herself and turned her gaze away from the rising Sun. There was now enough light to see this new world on which she had found herself. The ground was covered in green vegetation. All of the plant life looked uncultivated and there were no signs of artificial construction. It was entirely possible that she was the only person on this planet. A rising sense of loneliness threatened to overwhelm her, but she fought it down. She had to keep busy, keep thinking about things in order to keep her mind occupied. The first thing she needed to consider was her own survival. She was alone on a strange world, she needed food and shelter.

Turning round, she looked back down the hill she had climbed. At the bottom, laying at the end of a long score mark it had dug into the ground, was the small craft she had arrived in. There might be a medical kit or some other supplies in there and, even if there wasn't, she might be able to disassemble the craft and use the parts to construct some useful tools.

As she made her way back down to the ship, she was able to give it a closer examination. The nose of the craft looked fairly intact, apart from some scorch marks, presumably from the re-entry heat. The tail of the craft, one the other hand, was a different matter. Kara walked around the craft to get a better look. The rear of the craft was a tangled mess of metal and rock. It looked like an asteroid had smashed into it. It was amazing that craft had survived at all, let alone made it to a habitable planet. If the asteroid had been a little bigger or travelling slightly faster, she would have simply died in space. She felt nauseous again.

Kara turned and began to walk back to the front of the craft, but stumbled and fell to her knees. She felt suddenly dizzy, her limbs felt heavy and the nausea was getting worse. She looked at the craft again, trying to get her eyes to focus. As she looked at the rock sitting between the twisted metal of the back of the craft, she noticed that it had a slight green tinge. Horrible realisation dawned. This was no random space rock, this was a piece of Krypton. Radioactive. Killing her.

She had to get away. She turned and hauled herself back onto her feet. She took a few wobbly steps away from the craft before collapsing again. She took a few moments to catch her breath, then pulled herself up again and continued to move back up the hill, away from the deadly radiation. As she moved up the hill, each step became easier. By the time she was at the top, the dizziness and nausea had almost subsided.

Kara took deep breaths until her head cleared, then looked back down at the small craft she had arrived in. She could never go back to it. She was stuck on an alien world with no supplies and no equipment. She stared at the little craft for a moment longer, then turned away. Kara picked a direction and began walking.

As she walked Kara looked around at this new world. Plant life grew everywhere and small animals flew through the air or sat on the larger plants, making twittering sounds. Wild plants and animals had been rare on Krypton, even rarer on Argo, where the only plant life had been grown for consumption. It had been a quiet and dark place to live. This place, however... a rolling floor of green under blue skies, full of the noise of animals and the rustle of wind against plants, it all seemed so... alive.

Kara's thoughts snapped back as she came across a worn patch of ground which stretched away into either direction. Some sort of track, possibly made by animals. Kara turned and began to follow it. Where there were animals, there would be water to drink.

By the time the Sun was higher in the sky Kara had come across something else which made her stop. The dirt track had lead her to another larger track. This new track was coated in hard black substance with white and yellow lines painted onto it. This was clearly not a natural occurrence, this had been made by intelligent life.

As Kara followed this new track her mind buzzed. Alien life! How would she communicate? How would they react to her? Would she be able to eat their food?

Kara stopped as she crested a small hill and, looking down the other side, saw a large number of rectangular blocky buildings. She began to walk towards them, first contact ideas spinning through her head. She could draw shapes, or simplified mathematical equations, or-

Kara's train of thought snapped back to the present as she drew up next to one of the outlying buildings. There was movement and sound coming from within a large open area in the side of the building. She looked inside. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw. A Kryptonian was in the large open room, working on some sort of machine. Sounds were coming from a small box sitting on the table next to him. Kara had almost run forward with a shout of relief to start explaining how she had gotten here, but she stopped herself. How could this be a Kryptonian? This was clearly a different world.

She stared at the man, he looked Kryptonian, but... She realised that the sounds coming from the little box were voices, but the sounds were totally alien to her.

The man noticed her. He raised his head and said something. The words floated past her without meaning. Kara turned and swiftly walked away, her head reeling. In the distance now she could see other figures moving about. They also looked Kryptonian. Were these aliens or not? If they were aliens, why did they look like her own people? She stood for a moment considering her options, then moved further into the settlement.

As she moved through the settlement she walked past several of the local inhabitants. Most of them watched her as she walked past, but none approached her. Kara tried to think. She needed to learn more about this planet. As no one seemed to want to stop her, she decided to explore the settlement. She began to wander up and down the roads which ran between the oblong buildings.

This place was so different to her home, it was so full of noise and movement. There were bright colours everywhere and strange sounds and smells. Kara spent the day wandering, until the Sun was low in the sky and the shadows lengthened. As the Sun disappeared behind one of the buildings, Kara's thoughts turned to where she would sleep that night and she suddenly realised how hungry she was. She would need to find and food and shelter. But how could she, if she couldn't talk to these people? And could she even eat their food? Would she be able to digest it?

But she had been awake since before dawn and she hadn't eaten since Argo. There was no choice, she would have to make contact with the locals.

Even though the Sun had gone down, she could still feel it's warmth in her body. The feeling gave her some measure of confidence. She found a group of people standing outside of one of the buildings. She took a deep breath and made her way towards them.

…

Mike had been working on his pickup when he had looked up and saw a girl staring at him. She was wearing a white one piece outfit, covered in mud, a red cloak and no shoes. He stood up and wiped his hands on a rag.

"Can I help you?" He asked

She stared at him for a moment, then turned and walked away. Mike shook his head. 'Weirdo' he thought. Probably from the big city, you got all sorts of strange people from places like that.

He turned back to his vehicle. He wanted to get this finished tonight, so that he could head out tomorrow morning. He had seen a meteorite come down last night, east of here, and he wanted to go and check it out.

Who knew, he might find something interesting.


	8. Chapter 8

Emily hurried home. It would be dark by the time she got back. Having an after school job didn't leave her with a lot of free time, but she needed the money to save for College. It was pretty tiring, but at least she got the weekends off.

She cut down the alleyway shortcut she usually used that came out between the bar and the pharmacy. The pharmacy was shut up for the night, but the bar was alive and busy. Thumping music came from inside and a few of the Friday night crowd were milling around outside smoking and talking.

Emily was making her way forward to cross the road when a hand shot out and gripped her arm. She turned and saw who was holding her. He was a trucker by the look of him, one of the many that passed through this town. He grinned at her. Another, larger man stood behind him and looked down at her slightly unsteadily.

"Hey, sweetheart." The shorter man slurred, beery breath washing over her. "Me and my friend here finding ourselves a little low on funds right now, how about you lend us five bucks?"

"Sorry, I don't have any spare money." Said Emily, trying to pull her arm away.

"Hey, don't be like that." Said the trucker. "It's only five bucks I'm asking for, it's not a lot to ask for."

The larger man's eyes roved down to Emily's bag. "What've you got it there?" He asked, pointing.

"Just my school stuff." Said Emily, gripping the bag with her free hand.

"Let's have a look then." Said the larger man, reaching forward.

Emily twisted her arm out of the shorter man's grip and turned to run. She got about two steps before she barrelled into someone. She looked up into the eyes of another girl, about her own age. The girl said something in a language that Emily didn't understand.

Emily turned and saw that the two men had stepped forwards and were now standing either side of herself and the new girl.

"Hey, don't leave when I'm talking to you. That's very rude." Sneered the shorter man. "Just give us some money." He glanced at the new girl. "What about you blondie? You got any money?"

He made a grab for the new girl. The new girl took a step forward and pushed him. It didn't look like a hard push, but he hit the wall of the bar pretty hard and collapsed into a moaning heap. There was a shocked silence, then the larger man let out a string of expletives, turned and swung a fist at the new girl. The fist connected hard with the side of her head, then the larger man staggered back with a shriek, holding his hand. By this point everyone outside the bar was staring at them. Emily grabbed the other girl's hand and hurried away.

Once they were some distance away fro the bar, they slowed to a walk.

Emily waited until she got her breath back, then turned to look at the other girl. "How did you do that? You lifted him right off his feet."

The other girl stared at her.

"Well, thank you, anyway." Said Emily. "What's your name? I'm Emily. Most people call me Em."

The girl continued to stare at her.

Emily frowned. "Can you understand me? Do you speak English?" She pointed to herself. "I'm Emily. Emily."

"Em-lee?" Said the girl.

"Yes, that's right." Emily smiled. "I'm Emily. And you are?" She asked, pointing.

The girl looked at her finger, then back up at her. "Kara." She said.

"Well, nice to meet you Kara." Said Emily. Kara stared at her. Emily sighed. "You really don't speak English do you? So, are you an immigrant or something?" Emily asked, glancing at the other girl's strange attire.

Kara didn't answer, so they walked on in silence for a while until they came to a house, where Emily stopped.

"Well, this is me." Said Emily. "Well... good to meet you Kara. I guess I'll see you around?" She pulled her keys out of her bag and opened the front door.

She looked back at Kara who was still looking around. It was completely dark now and starting to get cold. "Please tell me you at least have a place to stay tonight?" Kara stared at her. Emily sighed in exasperation and pulled Kara into the house.

...

Mike rose early the following morning and set off towards where he had seen the shooting star fall. It had been dark and rainy that night and no-one else seemed to have seen anything. It had just been coincidence that he had been looking out of the window when he had seen something streaming through the clouds. He could sell it to a museum or collector or something. Maybe the TV people would be interested

His vehicle bumped along the dirt road until finally it wound round a hill and he saw a gash cut into the topsoil. His car slid to a halt and he got out and followed the score in the ground. After a short while he saw something at the bottom of a hill.

He approached. It looked intact but it also looked metallic, not like a meteor at all. He went closer. The back was a twisted mess of rock and metal. It looked like a probe of satellite that had been knocked out of the sky by a meteor. Some NASA thing or something. His face fell, that probably meant he couldn't sell it.

A scraping noise drew his attention. He got closer to the back of the thing and peered between the strange greenish rock. The metal almost seemed to be... moving. He reached out a hand. Suddenly something flashed out. He didn't even have time to shout before it struck him in the chest. There was a crack and a smell of ozone and Mike knew no more.

It disentangled itself from the craft and began to pull itself towards him.


	9. Chapter 9

Samantha and David both rose early in order to get to their shift respective shifts. Samantha always felt tired doing the morning shift, especially as she had gotten into the habit of staying awake until she heard her daughter get back from work. As soon as she had heard Emily's voice from outside the front, followed by the front door opening and closing, she had been able to relax and get to sleep.

She and her husband both ate breakfast in silence. Neither of them were morning people, but she was glad that they were both doing the early shift this week. At least they'd have the evenings together. That was the problem with them both doing shift work, sometimes they went days only seeing the other for short periods before the other had to go to work or bed.

After she pulled her uniform on, she went in to kiss her daughter goodbye and was quite surprised to find another girl she had never met before, sleeping next to her daughter's bed on the inflatable mattress. She leaned over and gave her daughter a little shake.

"Wsfgl?" Said Emily, opening her eyes.

"Emily, who is that?" Asked Samantha quietly.

"She's a friend." Said Emily, rubbing the sleep from her face. "She didn't have anywhere to stay, so I said she could stay here."

"Who is she? I've never seen her before."

"Her name's Kara, she helped me out last night when some guy was harassing me at the bar." Emily saw her mother's expression. "Not at the bar, I wasn't in the bar, I was just passing it on my way home. Some drunk guy was annoying me and she got him to leave me alone."

Samantha sighed, she wasn't entirely happy with this, but she did trust her daughter not to invite someone unpleasant into the house. "We will talk discuss this later." She said, gave her daughter a quick hug, then left the room.

Her husband was waiting by the front door. "Everything okay with Em?" He asked when she got to the bottom of the stairs.

She sighed. "She's got a girl staying in her room. I've never seen her before, I pretty sure she's not from round here. Not sure how I feel about having a total stranger in the house while we're out."

He shrugged "Well, I'm sure we'll be introduced to her this when we get back later."

Samantha smiled. "Fine, but if we get back and the TV's missing, I'm blaming you."

He grinned and leaned in for a kiss. "Have a good day." He said.

She went to grab her car keys and follow her husband out the door when her phone buzzed. She answered it as she made her way back to the front door.

"Hey Sal, it's Greg, have you left for work yet?"

"Just about to." Samantha replied. "What's up?"

"We had a couple of guys taken into the hospital last night and they've been giving conflicting reports about what happened. The Boss wants you to check it out."

Samantha exited the house and called over to her husband, who was getting into his car. "Dave, change of plan. I'm following you to the hospital."

Twenty minutes later they pulled up at the local hospital where David worked as a EMT. They walked in together, then separated, David heading off to work, Samantha to the reception.

"Hi, I'm from the Sheriff's Department. I'm here about the two guys who were brought in last night."

"Yeah, they were brought in last night." Said the Doctor. "One with some cracked ribs, the other with a few broken fingers. Said they'd been jumped by a couple of guys outside O'Brian's bar."

"You don't sound very convinced."

"At least three off my off duty staff were at the bar last night. They spoke to the EMTs when they arrived to pick the two up."

"And what did they say happened?"

"So tell me what happened."

Samantha stood in the room facing the two beds occupied by the two men who had been brought in last night, her pen hovering over her notepad. The one with the cracked ribs scowled at her.

"I told the others, we got jumped by three guys outside the bar." He said. "They wanted money. Didn't they?" He turned to the man in the bed next to him who nodded.

"Do you know it's an offence to file a false report?" Asked Samantha.

The man shifted uncomfortably. "I'm just saying what happened." He muttered.

"Only..." continued Samantha. "According to at least three witnesses, there were no three guys and you were seen," She consulted her note book. "Harassing two teenage girls, one of whom pushed you over, and who you" She nodded to the other man. "tried to punch."

"...I don't remember what happened."

"I've also been told that this is not the first time you've been seen harassing people for money. Now the doctors tell me that you're not too badly hurt and they're going to release you today. I'm not entirely sure what happened last night, but in my opinion, you got off lightly." She approached the bed and leaned in. "Let me assure you" She said quietly. "If any news of you harassing people reaches my ears again, it will go extremely poorly for you. Do I make myself clear?"

The man in the bed tried to stare defiantly, but gave up and cast his eyes down. "Yes Ma'am." he said.

Samantha walked out of the hospital. She thought it was more likely that two drunk guys had fallen over and hurt themselves, then being beaten up by a teenager. But her thoughts were focusing on the descriptions that the witnesses had given of the two girls involved. Mid to late teens, one blond and one with dark hair. She thought about a strange blond girl sleeping in her dark haired daughter's room. 'Some drunk guy was annoying me and she got him to leave me alone.' Her daughter had said.

She would be asking some questions tonight.

…

The devices that the animal had been carrying, and it's vehicle had not yielded up much in the way of power or materials. If these things were typical of the level of technology on this planet, then it was a hopelessly primitive world. It sensed approaching movement. Another vehicle was approaching. It could strip this one as well, but constructed transport meant civilisation. Civilisation meant population centres and more viable technology.

It decided to be patient.


	10. Chapter 10

A spot of sunlight that had made it's way into the room through a gap in the curtains, spent a couple of hours sliding down the wall and across the floor until it climbed onto Kara's face.

Kara felt the warmth of the light on her face, calling to her in her dreams like a beacon, as her consciousness swam up out of the depths of sleep. She didn't open her eyes straight away, but lay still, the memories of the night's dreams fading away. At first she tried to fall back into the comfort of sleep, but now the world seemed filled with a thousand little noises that she couldn't ignore.

She lay and listened to the sounds that surrounded her. The building she was in seemed at once silent and noisy. She could hear the slight creaks and groans of the building as it shifted imperceptibly due to heating in the daylight. Light footsteps padded across the floor some distance from her. From outside far away voices murmured and vehicles rolled down the stoney roads.

As she lay there, she began to replay the events that had led her to this point, waking up on the floor of a room on an alien world. Waking up in her room on Argo now seemed like a long distant memory, whereas it had only been two days ago. At least, two days by her reckoning, there was no way of knowing how long she had been in space. It might have been asleep for many days before the ship had found a suitable planet.

She opened her eyes and looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling. She felt like she had never looked at anything as closely as she was now. She took in every tiny crack, every small fleck of paint, every every small discolouration. She felt she like she had examined it so hard, she could have drawn the entire ceiling just from memory.

The door of the room creaked open and the alien, Emily, stuck her head round the door. She smiled when she saw Kara was awake and stepped into the room. She said something and beckoned Kara to get up. Emily led her down a corridor, talking as she went, then down a set of steps. Kara tried to follow what Emily said, to see if she could discern any meaning, but even now she was now fully awake, she still found that the noises were still distracting. Every footstep, every creak of the wooden boards beneath them, even the sound of their breathing seemed amplified. Kara tried to put the sounds to the back of her mind.

Emily led Kara into a larger room with a number of wide, soft looking seats, gestured at Kara to sit, then she walked into another room. The room was brightly lit by the warm yellow sunlight that steamed in through the large windows. Kara went to the window and looked out at this new world. The Sun was so different from the old red Sun of her childhood. The dim red light had always seemed to create more shadows than to illuminate the darkness. Of course even that had been preferable to the eternal night in the prison that Argo had become. But here, everything seemed more alive under the bright yellow Sun that seemed to dispel all darkness before it.

Hearing a noise, Kara turned to see that Emily had returned carrying two bowls. She handed one to Kara and gestured again for her to sit down. Sitting down next to her, Emily picked up a small black rectangle covered in many buttons and pointed it across the room. A black screen sprang into life, displaying an image of a person sitting facing them and speaking. Emily pressed a button and the image changed to that of a group of animals walking through patches of plant-life. Emily kept pressing the button and the images kept changing, an animated creature chased another animated creature around a room, a group of somber looking people sat around a table talking, two people hitting each other while a crowd cheered, groups of people ran around throwing a ball to each other, a group of vehicles went very fast down a road. The images flicked past too fast for Kara to make any sence of them.

Emily finally settled of the image of two people standing in a furnished room, not unlike the one they were currently in. The two people on the screen spoke to each other rapidly and with some emotion, while an unseen crowd of people laughed at them. Emily settled back in the seat and began to eat from her bowl. Kara looked down into her own bowl. It contained some kind of cold soup of grains in a white liquid. She took a mouthful. It was almost unbelievably sweet.

When Emily had finished with her bowl, she turned and said something to Kara, then got up and walked out of the room, Kara heard her place the bowl back in the previous room, then the sound of her footsteps going back up to the upper floor. After a short amount of time, there was the sound of running water.

Kara went back to eating the sweet soup and watching the screen. Now it showed a man, who was presenting a small item to the screen and apparently talking about it with some enthusiasm. As she listened to his rapid speech she found she was becoming very aware of her own breathing. The sound of air rushing in and out of her lungs seemed louder than she had ever heard, and behind it was the steady thump of her heart. Around her she could hear the sounds of water rushing through pipes and the hum of electronics. She put her hands over her ears but it made no difference, all of the noises seemed to grow louder and louder, until she couldn't bear it.

It was too much. Kara got up an moved unsteadily to the back room of the house. Through a closed doorway she saw the outside world. She got the door open and stepped outside. This was no better. The moment she went outside, she stepped into a wall of noise. Voices, vehicles and footsteps all blended together and slammed into her ears.

She felt her heart thudding as she fought down the panic. She fell to her knees, arms clasped around her head and desperately tried to block out the overwhelming noise.

A memory suddenly sprang into her mind. Sitting with her parents, their gentle voices flowing over her. The training of the mind for those who would use it to the betterment of the people of Krypton, learning to clear her mind and ignore the petty distractions of the physical world.

Her breathing slowed as the memories came to her. 'I am in control of my own mind.' she thought 'My thoughts are my own. No outside distractions will hinder me.'

She felt her heart rate begin to slow.

She opened her eyes. The sounds were still there but they were now in the background of her consciousness, not overwhelming her senses.

Looking out at the land before her, she saw a figure far away walking along a road. She realised that even from this distance, she could hear their footsteps and she could see every tiny detail of the clothes they wore.

Her senses were beyond anything any other Kryptonian had experienced, at least without the use of technological assistance. Why was this happening?

She heard a voice, Emily's, call her name. Kara took a deep breath, got up and went back to the house. She really wished that she could talk to another Kryptonian, but for all she knew, she was the last one in the Universe. And even if she wasn't, nobody knew she was here.

…

After a short while it's patience had paid off, another of the creatures had arrived. The new creature's vehicle and the technology it carried were similar to the first creature. It remained hidden under the first vehicle and watched as the second creature got out of it's vehicle and ran over to where the first creature was laying. The second creature examined the prone form of the first for a short amount of time, then pulled out a small rectangular device, pressed it a few times, then held the device to the side of it's head as it started broadcasting a signal.

Safely hidden under the first vehicle, it watched and waited.


	11. Chapter 11

David sat on the bed of the Ambulance, reading. When you were on call you had to learn to stave off the boredom, while at the same time being ready to head off at a moment's notice. It was a pretty quiet job in a town this small, it was rare for them to be called out more than twice in a shift, apart from on Friday nights. David had been off on Friday and from what he'd heard, he'd missed some excitement. According to his colleagues there had been a fight outside O'Brians last night and a couple of out-of-towners had been brought in. David had a sneaking suspicion that was why his wife had been called to the hospital.

The radio squawked, bringing him out of his thoughts. Ellie, his driver, answered the call, listened for a moment, then gave a quick affirmation to the dispatcher.

"Got one, let's go." Ellie called back through the door, starting the engine.

David jumped up and shoved the book back into his satchel. As they set off he did a quick once over to make sure they had everything they needed. He'd done this at the start of his shift but he always did it again when they set out, just in case.

"So what've we got?" he called through to the front, as the ambulance left the hospital, siren wailing, and began to pick up speed.

"Call from the Anderson Farm. Apparently, the owner found an unconscious guy in the hills just outside his property. Suspected lighting strike." Ellie called back.

"What?" Asked David, surprised. Lightning strike? That was a first for him. "Is he sure?"

"The guy who phoned said that he rolled the guy over to check his breathing and found what looked like an electrical burn on his chest."

"It was clear last night, the storm was the night before. If he was hit by lightning during that storm then he's been laying they for over a day."

"Guy said he was breathing."

David sat back down on the bed and started to think back over his training for treating electric shocks and exposure.

After they found the turn off from the road and onto a dirt track, it wasn't long before they spotted two cars parked to one side. In one of the cars a dog stood barking at the other car. A man stood next to the cars, waving his arms.

Ellie pulled up and opened the driver's side door.

"Mr Anderson?" She asked, jumping down from the seat, David coming out of the back.

"Yes. He's this way." Said the man pointing.

They couldn't drive that way due to the rough ground, so they had to carry the stretcher while the farmer led them away from the road.

"So, how did you find him?" asked David

"I was driving down the road when I saw that car there." Said the farmer as he walked ahead of them. "People don't usually park here so I stopped to check it out. Soon as I got out of my car my dog jumped out and went running up here. I heard him barking, so I went to find him. I found the man unconscious, and something else."

David and Ellie exchanged a glance over the stretcher.

"What else did you find, Mr Anderson?" Asked David.

"Easier if I just show you, I guess. It's just over this hill."

When they crested the top of the hill, they saw the body. He lay at the end of a large gash that had been cut into the topsoil, and next to him lay...

"What the heck is that?" Muttered Ellie as they started down the hill.

"I don't know." Said Mr Anderson. "Alls I can tell you is it wasn't here last week."

David stared at it as he made his way down to where the man was laying. It looked like a miniature spaceship had fallen out of the sky. It looked like it had taken the fall pretty badly, the back and underside looked pretty smashed up. As he reached the man, a thought struck him, 'I wonder if this caused it?'. He tried to put thoughts of electrical discharges and radiation leaks out of his mind as he ran through his initial checks.

Pulse and breathing see okay, the skin was cool but not cold to the touch, so hopefully no hypothermia. Prehaps he had only been out here since this morning.

"Okay." He said to Ellie as they put a sterile gauze on the burn. "Lets get him back, I don't want to stay near this thing" he nodded the the ship "any longer than I have to.

They got him onto the stretcher and began to move him back towards the ambulance.

"Mr Anderson, afraid I'm going to have to ask you not to go back near that thing." Said David, as the vehicles came back onto view along with the sound of Mr Anderson's dog barking.

Mr Anderson snorted. "You couldn't pay me to go back there. I've done my civic duty, now I'm going home. If the police want a statement, they can come and find me."

The old man hurried to his car and tried to calm his dog who was franticly barking at the ambulance.

"We need to report it in, if the ship shocked him or is leaking radiation it could hurt others." said David as he and Ellie lifted the stretcher into the back of the ambulance.

"Yeah." Said Ellie "But who the heck do we call about a crashed spaceship?"

…

When the larger vehicle had arrived, it had moved to attach itself to the underside. Not long after, the creatures had returned with the injured one.

Now the vehicle was moving and, judging by the increase in the local electricity and radio waves, towards a settlement.

It wasted no time in trying to understand the signals. It knew only one thing, this place contained things that it could use.


	12. Chapter 12

It had been a long and tiring day.

Drunk truckers Samantha could deal with, that was just part of dealing with day to day life in a small town. Calls about crashed spaceships... well, that was a new one.

They'd cordoned the spaceship off and then tried to work out who they were supposed to contact in this situation. They had called NASA, the FAA and the Military. NASA had assured her that they had no missing spacecraft, the FAA had asked if it was a prank call and the man at the nearest airforce base had laughed at her until she had graphically described the threat of what she would do to him if he didn't put her on with a superior officer. The officer had listened to what she had to say, then assured her that they would definitely send someone out to check it out, no they couldn't say when.

Her burning desire for the ability to be able to punch people through phonelines had been tempered somewhat when David called to tell her that he had been given the all clear to retune home. The relief that she felt that neither her husband or anyone else was in danger from radiation or toxic leaks had slid a little back down towards annoyance when she had returned home to find the strange girl was still there.

Some time later Samantha and David stood in the kitchen facing their daughter.

"Who is she?" Samantha asked.

"Her name is Kara." Replied Emily

"Yes but who is she? She's not local I know that."

Emily shrugged. "I'm not sure where she's from."

"You haven't you asked her?"

"No. Well, yes, but I don't think she can speak English."

"What?"

"Yeah, I think she's an immigrant or something."

Samantha closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Em, you can't just invite a girl you know nothing about to stay in our house."

Emily shrugged again. "Why not? You said we should always help people if we can and-"

"Helping people does not mean letting complete strangers stay in your house." Samantha snapped.

"She seems okay. She helped me last night."

Samantha's eyes narrowed. "Yes, I've been meaning to ask you about that."

Emily sighed. "Look, a couple of guys were bothering me and Kara got them to leave me alone. I told you this morning."

Samanta leaned forward. "You told me it was one guy. And those two guys ended up in hospital with broken bones."

Mother and daughter held each other's gaze for a moment.

"Emily." Said Samantha softly. "I just want you to be honest with me."

Emily frowned. "Then you shouldn't freak out whenever I tell you anything." She said, grabbing her drink and stalking out of the kitchen.

"You know," Said David softly, pulling a drink out of the fridge. "She may have a point."

Samantha turned to face him. "David," She said quietly. "Do not start."

David gazed at her, over the top of his drinks can. "We've always trusted our Daughter to be mature and make the right decisions."

Samantha sighed. "I know. I do trust her. It's just... It's been a hard day, I don't know who this girl is and what I've been told doesn't add up."

"Do you seriously thing a couple of teenage girls beat up two big truckers?" Asked David.

"Well something happened to them. I've been told three different stories about what happened and I'm not sure I believe any of them. I'd just feel more comfortable if I could talk to this girl."

The doorbell sounded.

"Pizza's here." Said David, pulling out his wallet and heading to the front door.

Samantha went into the front room. Emily and the girl, Kara, were sitting together on the couch. Emily turned when Samantha entered, Kara stayed staring at the screen, watching a nature documentary with rapt attention. Samantha put her hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"She can stay another night, but tomorrow I want to have a serious talk about this."

Emily met her gaze."Okay, Mom."

"We still friends?" Asked Samantha.

Emily smiled. "Yeah, Mom."

Samantha smiled back and gave her shoulder a little squeeze. "Come on, food's ready."

Emily nudged Kara, then led her through to the kitchen. Samantha fished the remote out from down the side of the couch, turned the TV off and went to join her family.

As the TV was off, they missed a broadcast that was being shown on all channels simultaneously.

…

As the rotation of the planet brought the local area into planetary shadow, many of the creatures went away, presumably to dwellings and such.

Now that the area was clear of observers, it could safely move.

Detaching itself from the vehicle, it moved towards where it had sensed a great deal of electromagnetic signals.

Eventually it found what it was looking for. The technology was crude, but it would suffice for now.


	13. Chapter 13

At 7 PM, every station on every television and radio in the land began to broadcast the same thing.

_We interrupt your regularly scheduled program in order to bring you this special message._

"Ladies and Gentlemen, people of America, good evening."

"I'm sure I need not introduce myself. You all know me and you know what I do. However, you may not, I think, be aware of what it is I stand for."

"I am aware that there has been some speculation as to why I have taken this time to speak with you all. I know that many have assumed that I would be using this time to announce my candidacy to run for President. However, while it would certainly be the highest honor for me to take up the leadership of this great country, I must inform you that this is not the case."

"No, the reason that I am speaking to you today, is because I want to bring you a message. It is a message that I belive is so important, I bought a slot on every TV and Radio station in the country in order to get it to you."

"I would like to talk to you about a certain... person. A person who has been in the news much of late. A person whom, I'm sure, you are all aware of."

"This person. This... alien. This so called 'Super Man' who resides in Metropolis. He is what concerns me and it is of him that I wish to speak to you today."

"Now, I am aware that many of you hold this alien in high regard. His... occasional acts of altuism have given him a certain amount of celebrity. I, however, do not find much to admire in this alien."

"My feelings on the matter have been well publicised. Some have even seen fit to frame my concerns as some sort of 'Jealousy'. Nothing could be further from the truth."

"What I want is what is best for us, not just as Americans, but for all humans."

"Allow me to ask you a question. When vigilantes try to take the law into their own hands, thay are arrested. However, when this alien acts, without duly elected authority or any human oversight, he is applauded."

"Why do we allow this alien to rome unchecked? Because he saves people? How many people has he saved, really? Thousands of lives around the world are saved every day thanks to LexCorp Medical. Am I afforded the same respect? I am not."

"Yet, people act as if he were some sort of Saviour. Let me ask you, should not the saviour of Humanity be Humanity itself?"

"To allow ourselves to be 'saved' by an alien is to lessen the achievements of all Humans. To put our faith in an alien is to diminishish human spirit. Why should we try if there is sombody who can do it so much better? We used to look up to the stars with wonder, yearning to know what was out there, now we just look up for him."

"He is an alien, we should not be following him. Earth is for humanity, not for aliens."

"Look at what we have achived without him. Imagine what we can achive without him. Let us not abandon progress in favour of hero worship."

"We do not need him."

"I hope you will all consider what I have said this evening."

"Thank you, and goodnight."

This message was paid for by Humanity First, a subsidiary of LexCorp.

_We now return you to your regularly scheduled program._


	14. Chapter 14

After the meal, Emily and, who Kara assumend were, her parents had gone back into the other room and turned the image screen back on.

Kara had lingered in the eating room. There was a door which led out onto the patch of ground behind the dwelling. She opened the door and stepped out onto the platform which lay beyond. The ground which lay below the platform was covered in very short, thin green leaves, which seemed to be growing directly out of the ground. At the opposite end from the dwelling were three larger plants. They were as tall as the dwelling and had huge thick wooden stems which split off into leaf covered branches.

It was dark now and the Stars were visible. She looked up, trying to see any patterns she regognised, but it all looked different. The pod could have taken her half-way across the Galaxy.

Even though the sun had gone down she still felt its warmth within herself. The night air was cool, but not cold and was filled with innumerable little noises, the movement of the vegitation in the wind, the chirps and rustles of animals, even the distant footsteps and voices of the people.

She felt more different than she ever had. Her senses still seemed sharper than they ever had. She felt like she had been going though life with her eyes and ears closed and now could hear and see for the first time.

She had no idea what could have caused it.

She decided to do a quick hand eye coordination test. She stepped off the platform, onto the ground and picked up a small stone. She turned to face one of the big leafy plants at the other end of the patch of ground. She aimed at one of the low hanging leaves and threw the stone.

There was a whisper and a thunk. The leaf did not seem to have moved at all. She moved closer. Once she got to the leaf she saw that a small hole had been punched through the centre of it. Her eyes went past the leaf, to the thick woody stem of the plant. There was hole in that too. The stone had buried itself about a finger's length into the wood.

Kara felt the wood. It was solid. There was no way she could have thrown the stone that hard.

Casting her eyes around, she spotted a larger rock on the ground. She picked it up and held it in front of herself, then squeezed it as hard as she could. It shattered in the grip.

It wasn't just her senses that had been affected, it seemed that her whole physiology had changed. But why? What could have caused it? Whatever aspect of this world that was causing this change in her, didn't seem to effect the poeple living here.

The people living here... They looked like Kryptonians but who knew what kind of strange biology they might have. Still, the food seemed edible and the air breathable. It seemed like she would be able to survive here. She looked enough like them that they seem to have taken her in as one of their own. What if they found out she was not of this world?

Kara took a deep breath. The first thing she needed to do was to learn how to communicate.

She turned and began walking back to the dwelling. Tomorrow she would sit down with Emily and begin to try to communicate.

Hopefully tomorrow would be as quiet as today had been.

…

The alarm had gone off in the mall's security booth at about two in the morning. Eric had quickly turned off his portable tv and checked the board.

D5, Binder's Electronics.

He grabbed his equipment belt and hurried towards the shop.

Usually when an alarm went off it was just kids messing about, but there had been some thefts.

Eric was kind of hoping it would be thieves. He'd been daydreaming about being a hero since he started this job.

Ariving at the shop, he stopped in shock. The place was trashed. Not only had most of the items been pulled off the shelves, but most had been ripped apart. Bits of wire and plastic covered the floor.

He stepped in, shining his flashlight across the mess. Most of the equipment seemed to have been piled in the center of the store. He walked forward to examine it.

He was reaching for his radio to call for assistance when he noticed that the pile was moving. Was there someone under there? No, that wasn't it. The pile was... standing up?

He stared at the vaguely Human shaped thing in shock. It seemed to regard him for a moment, then lunged forward.

There was a scream, which was quickly cut off.


End file.
